Sustainability – why is it way beyond the Triple Bottom Line ? Richard Donnelly Dr Carol Boyle International Centre for Sustainability Engineering and Research University of Auckland

Masters Research Sustainability of urban water resources management Incorporating sustainability thinking into engineering How engineers can address sustainability

The Triple Bottom Line Concept Three Pillars of Sustainable Development Society Environment Sustainable Development Economy

The Triple Bottom Line Concept Environment Society Economy

The Triple Bottom Line Concept The Wuppertal Prism Source: The Wuppertal Institute, http://www.foeeurope.org

Progress toward Sustainable Development The TBL Approach Guiding Vision Stakeholder participation Sustainability principles Sustainability Criteria Sustainability Assessment Impacts & benefits Achievement of goals Progress toward Sustainable Development

TBL In Society Accepted concept Incorporated in law TBL assessments widely used Business reporting tool Expands decision-making scope Significant advancement over previous assessment tools

Does Triple Bottom Line Thinking Address Sustainability ? No – TBL does not address sustainability

Sustainability of Processes Sustainability – “the ability to be sustained” A property only of processes Objects… beget systems… beget processes Processes meet needs Systems generate processes but always changing

The Urban Water Cycle A Process… From the Sky to the Sea Source: From the Sky to the Sea: The Auckland Water Management Plan http://www.watercare.co.nz

Processes can only be sustainable if the generating systems keep functioning and the necessary resources are available

Problems with TBL Does not address sustainability Will not deliver sustainable development Does not consider long-term futures Does not consider cumulative impacts Does not challenge existing paradigms Does not provide “real world” justification for change Expensive & time consuming

Sustainability & Risk TBL impacts do affect sustainability Impact assessment alone is insufficient to ensure sustainability Companies, cities & societies need to consider risks to sustainability E.g. Auckland City

Auckland Transportation Congestion costs $ 1 Billion / year $ 3.5 Billion roading plan

Auckland Wastewater Infrastructure capacity issues Mangere WWTP at capacity by 2014 Western Interceptor at capacity by 2005

Auckland Electricity National grid won’t meet Auckland demand by 2010 $ 1.5 billion upgrade by 2010 $ 1 billion further 2010 – 2020

Auckland – Other Issues Metropolitan aggregate sources exhausted Concerns over global oil production

Sources of Risk Inefficiencies in technology, production processes & infrastructure systems Environmental, social, economic & physical resource limits Increasing costs to meet increasing demand

Risk-based Planning TBL approaches cannot identify & address long-term risks to sustainability We need to ensure the sustainability of: Business activities Critical services e.g. transportation Provision of important resources Now & for future generations

Risk-based Planning Identify system limits Determine supply / demand conflicts Identify threats & risks to sustainability Identify actions to address them Co-ordinated, high level, integrated, multi-disciplinary planning

Summary TBL represents relationships between environment, society & economy TBL is important for informing decision- making processes TBL is not synonymous with achieving sustainable development Long-term risk-based planning is required to ensure future generations can meet their needs

Thank you